Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 56: Stranded Men

"…"

"…"

The two could only stare silently at each other for a brief moment. Quentin started to doubt himself if he had taken his words too far and could only stay timid as Cesar remained staring at him in the eyes.

As it continued, the surroundings around Cesar started to be dangerous threatening that Quentin started to shiver in his place, not wanting to take a single movement that might endanger his life.

Only then does he start avoiding Cesar's eyes, becoming afraid of him.

"Pft! Hahaha!"

Cesar chuckled as he shook his head, not containing the force of laughter kept inside his mouth before closing his distance on Quentin and giving him a tight hug.

Cesar closed his lips at Quentin's ear and whispered evenly, "That's taking too far, knowing how sensitive it is even for me. But I'll let it slide because we're short on time."

He paused, "Setting that aside, I'm glad to see you,"

Not knowing how to react to that kind of response, Quentin could only let out an awkward laugh while receiving Cesar's hug with a bit of distaste.

He was glad to meet him as well, whether that was true or not didn't matter.

Grip!

The hug took a bit longer than usual, and Quentin started to force himself out of Cesar's clutch. However, without getting him out of his grasp, he started to get too uncomfortable.

With a pained groan, Quentin begged, "Uhm, Cesar. Can you release me?"

…

Cesar and Quentin walked side by side as they slowly approached the makeshift camp. As if nearing their campsite makes even less noise poses a certain type of danger, the two didn't put up any idle talk.

Setting their conversation earlier, which had nothing to do with their quietness, the two of them could only remain silent for their safety.

Eventually, they reached the campsite without any hiccups coming on their way. Flapping the tent and entering at the same time, both of them came near to the five people that gathered around in a single point.

'Woah, woah…'

Cesar was flabbergasted when he realized that these people were not just any kind of men he was expecting to see. If they were, he wouldn't have any choice but to sacrifice them and be on his merry way.

But now, his way of thinking had to be changed after seeing that five of them were leaders of their own squad when moving on to their second option on their operation in the City of Wheels.

Their strength, leadership, and overall prowess might be enough to pull off their plan to eradicate the Nightmare stopping their way. Enjoy stories on m_v lem|p-yr

"Sir, I found another one," Quentin respectfully informed as he introduced Cesar, "This is one of my classmates, the leader of the student's team, Cesar Sparrow. You might've seen him from time to time since he was with Vin the latter half part of the city,"

A tall man with striking features went to greet Cesar with a brimming smile as he introduced himself, "Hello, Sparrow. You might've known me but my name is Squad Leader Klaus. I was a squad leader from the north before we got transferred here."

Cesar nodded once before asking in a respectful tone, "Is it okay to speak inside the camp? Are you not afraid of alerting the Nightmare outside?"

From the side, another man approached Cesar and asked with a frown, "How come you knew there was a Nightmare?"

'Shit… Right, Quentin didn't really talk to me about everything. I just realized that he just led me here and nothing more,'

Cesar's deranged mind and glib tongue started to work on their own and it didn't take long before he produced an answer.

"Judging that all of you are still here instead of moving forward, a person with a brain can instantly realize that something is wrong. Defeating a couple of Level Zero to Two Corrupted is a piece of cake to you all but it is a different matter if that isn't your opponent. Honestly, filling up the pieces with these clues is enough to give me an answer,"

The man from earlier with a long tattoo on his arm up to the side of his cheek, stared at Cesar for a second before letting out a cheeky smile.

"Hey, I'm just kidding kiddo,"

The man then introduced, "Sparrow, my name is Squad Leader Jeremiah. I'm designated at the south side of the city before being weirdly transferred to this… hallway. Honestly, I've heard about you from Quentin. He was the only one who told me that you realize something was wrong, but we're far too late to take action,"

Cesar couldn't help but glance at Quentin, who gave him a light shrug before Jeremiah continued introducing the other three.

"You see that large man? That guy is a healer support and a squad leader as well. Well, everyone here is a squad leader but anyway. He's Amar."

Jeremiah pointed his finger before shifting it slightly to the side, "Right now, Amar is supporting that shorty who is maintaining this tent but don't be deceived by its appearance since he explained that his power is related to that. His name is Erin."

Lastly, Jeremiah shifted his finger at the woman lying unconsciously on the floor. She was breathing which is apparent as her chest goes up and down. With a slightly sad expression, he informed Cesar who the woman was.

"She's Leah. A Squad Leader as well and the one who informed us that there's a Nightmare forward at the candelabra. She's also the first to come to this place, stopping me, the second one, to continue walking forward. She's a brave fellow I'm telling you,"

Cesar solemnly observed the woman and couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

Jeremiah sighed, "Actually, with our food running out of supplies, she had no choice but to search for them. The thing she was avoiding, the delicacies on the table, was the first thing that came to her mind. I was with her at that time, with a rope in my hand ready to pull her anytime."

He paused, "But before even closing to this food, she weirdly stood at her place before falling down with a slight seizure. I had no choice but to pull the rope but everything. It has been a week since this happened,"

'What?'

Cesar didn't let that single detail slide from his head after Jeremiah told the story of Leah losing consciousness after trying to grab a ration from the delicacies.

"It has been a week?"